Kelly, 10B, RDF International School

Which one would you choose to change our environment among planting trees, banning plastic bags, or increasing access to public transportation? Recently environmental issues have been hot topics, and more and more environmentalists are concerned about our circumstances. From my perspective, planting trees and creating parks are the best options for improving our environment.

To begin with, trees have the best ability to absorb greenhouse gases and reduce exhaust emission, which can let residents breathe fresh air and resolve the problem of global warming. Inhaling and exhaling fresh air mentally and physically keeps our body healthy. What’s more, to build parks and plant trees can help increase the biodiversity, as trees will attract different kinds of animals such as birds and squirrels, and provide habitats for them. Trees reduce urban heat island effects through evaporative cooling and reduce the amount of sunlight reaching parking lots and buildings. Plus, parks beautify the entire city which helps us to have a brisk mood. Well-placed trees can reduce the cooling costs by sheltering the south and west sides of our homes in summer. According to thousands of researches and news reports, growing trees is the most beneficial and cost-effective method to deal with these issues.

I have to admit that stopping the offering of plastic bags helps reduce white pollution, and increasing the availability of public transportation will reduce the necessity of driving for some people.

However, these strategies are not as effective as the first one; sometimes it is very tough to convince the stores to stop offering plastic bags, or to increase access to public transportation.

Especially, citizens lack the awareness and self-discipline needed to take their own bags when shopping. Most people pursue their own convenience but have a hard time thinking about our environment. As a result, they may refuse to bring bags by themselves which adds to white pollution. Also, under special circumstances, people will still choose to drive on their own as it is the fastest way to get to one’s destination.

Furthermore, if the government wants to carry out these two policies, they have to advertise for long periods and supervise and monitor daily progress. In addition, it is impossible to construct so many public transportation routes to rural areas. It’s time-consuming and requires a lot of effort.

There is no doubt that there are countless advantages that trees contribute to our environment. Carefully planning trees can be an asset to the entire community. Trees make our life nicer. From what we discussed above, we can safely draw a conclusion that planting trees and creating parks are the most practical ways to protect our environment.